A Technological take on the porn industry – Free The Porn

After reading the title of this entry I assume you might be taken a back. When I first saw Free The Porn I had the same reaction. After I removed my bias and looked at the site for what it really was, I realized that Free The Porn is worthy of a review, like PornoTube was. Some of you may have read Michael Arrington’s summary on PornoTube a few weeks back on TechCrunch. While PornoTube is the YouTube version of pornography; Free The Porn is the delicious/digg version of pornography.

Most people in the world of technology enjoy the idea of social bookmarking. Social bookmarking allows people to see websites and articles that they may have missed without the help of those with similar taste. This idea can easily apply to the pornographic industry. Certain people enjoy certain aspects of the sexual experience. When a website appears on the main page of Free The Porn, users have the ability to tag the website and vote the site up. Each submission provides you the opportunity to comment, email or blog about the website/story.

Users only vote on a website if they wish to add the submission to their favorites list. This is basically the del.icio.us school of thought but instead of “save,” it is “vote.” Another interesting function of the site is the navigation in the top right corner. You can organize the homepage’s stories by “votes,” “recent,” “title,” and “URL.” This easy navigation between the essential functions truly allows Free The Porn to shine.

The website is still in it’s infant stages, but just like PornoTube, I expect this site to explode in the coming weeks. The pornographic industry is one of, if not the biggest, industry on the Internet. Most websites in the genre are pure spam and cost money; sites like PornoTube and Free The Porn are well designed, and free. Look for the quality (in terms of navigation and technology) to improve over this coming year.

Web 2.0 Values

The world of Web 2.0 has been on a real high this past year and it seems like everyone is jumping into the game. While there has been quantity, I am not sure if there has been much quality. It seems like a lot of the sites are forgetting what Web 2.0 is all about. Here is a great set of “values” I found this morning:

* Simplicity over Completeness
* Long tail over Mass Audience
* Share over Protect
* Advertise over Subscribe
* Syndication over Stickiness
* Early Availability over Correctness
* Select by Crowd over Editor
* Honest voice over Corporate Speak
* Participation over Publishing
* Community over Product

Source

For those of you who are thinking about enterting the Web 2.0 game, make sure you take note of this list!

Nintendo Wii News Source

The Nintendo Wii is one of the most anticipated video game systems of all time; and with anticipation comes confusion. It seems like every day there is a different rumor regarding the Wii’s launch date and launch price. Ibloggedthis has been keeping track with these news and rumors, and one of our favorite places to find our information is the Wii Space nintendo wii forum.

There are a ton of Nintendo Wii Forums that are spread throughout the Internet, but most of these forums are either too spammy or too inactive. We like the Wii Space for it’s nice sized community, nice design, and general feel. There are some sites we like more simply based on the community, a la our preference of Reddit over Digg.

A great bonus that Wii Space has going for it is their Free Wii Giveaway. By simply leaving a message that you would like to enter the contest you can win a free Nintendo Wii and your choice of a Wii launch title. Currently there are 319 entrants, but I assume that number will grow once a release date is announced.

All in and all we really recommend Wii Space for your Wii discussion. Heck, even if you want to talk some Gamecube, Ds, 64, SNES, NES that is all there too!

Experienced People – The UK Internet Site that brings together Top People and Top Employers

Personally I have always had the dream that I could avoid doing the typical 9=5 job. I always knew the Internet was a great alternative for an income, and I have been working on my dream each and every day. Most people do not know where to turn or even where to begin when it comes to the world of home based businesses. The people at Experienced People are an excellent source of information, and a great help for a newcomer. The UK based company helps by providing training, tips, and opportunities.

The best part of the website is the section that provides the general ideas of what you can do working at home. The first idea that the website gives is the concept of working for them. This is something absolute beginners should embrace since they can learn the industry and have a solid foundation for the future. The second tip provided is the idea of running a website. Personally I find this to be the most profitable and reasonable method to making money on the Internet. If someone can find something they love, and expound on it, success should follow.

The other methods of making money while working from home include the concept of writing articles for other websites, buying and selling products, and becoming a virtual assistant. I would add in the idea of selling junk on Ebay, which can be a very nice source of income if done correctly.

Click here to read more on the subject.

The Top 10 Ways To Improve Your Traveling Experience

As I write this article I am sitting on a train from Boston heading to New York. Riding the train has always been an enjoyable experience for me, and I figured it was due to my utilization of time during the journey. I want everyone to enjoy their travel time, so here is the top 10 ways to make the best of your long travels:

10. Don’t Sleep The Night Before
Now this may sound like a bad idea, and for the most part it is; but having the need for sleep on a long ride is a great time killer. If you only got a few hours of sleep the night before, set your cell phone alarm and take a much needed nap. Sure this isn’t the best thing for your sleep cycle, and that is why it ranks #10, but it can still be a rather enjoyable experience.

9. Engage In Conversation
People are interesting, period. If you have someone sitting near by, then take the initiative to strike up a conversation. Some of the most interesting people I have ever talked to have been on a train. Even if the person isn’t entertaining, it was worth a try!

8. Play A Game
If you have a laptop or a Nintendo DS, this can be an easy way to kill time. Playing a game for a few hours straight is a great way to make the time fly by. You play your DS when you can go outside, so why not play the DS when you can’t? Other suggestions include paper games such as crossword puzzles and Sudoku.

7. Read A Book/ Magazine
Some people love to read, and what better way than on a train? Usually I will pick up a sports or tech magazine right before my train ride and that will provide a few hours of relief. If you get “car sick” then skip this tip.

6. Bring Headphones
As long as you have a laptop, or a mp3 player, music can keep you entertained for hours on end. Usually I will buy an album on Itunes that I have been meaning to listen to and run it on repeat for the entire train ride.

5. Think/Scheme
I am a business man at heart and the best time to really think and conjure up business plans is on a long ride. You can really focus when there is limited resources at your disposal. So spend your time wisely and get to thinking!

4. Write A Blog Entry
This is exactly what I am doing right now. I have nothing better to do and I figured that this is probably the best time to write a top 10 of what to do on a train ride! A long travel period gives you plenty of time to brainstorm, rough draft, and produce.

3. Clean Your Computer
This is a great way to be efficient while riding the train. Clean up your dirty computer of all the useless junk you have accumulated. Delete old and outdated pictures and applications that you haven’t used in months. You will be happy you did this before your computer becomes overwhelmed with junk.

2. Get Work Done
For a college student like myself the train ride is a great place for me to get my work done. When I am around my friends there is a million things I would rather do than write a 7 page paper. This doesn’t hold true on a 4 hour train ride. Some of my best work has come during travel time!

1. Set and Keep Open Your Firefox
This is my number one way to waste time on the train. Right before I leave my apartment or house for the train ride I will open up my laptop and Firefox. Usually I will open up some 10-15 tabs of unread material. For this exact train ride I opened up Techcrunch, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, Mashable, Bill Simmons’ Mail bag, and Pro Blogger. That was a great hour or two of reading!

Most people hate traveling, but I feel like that I am most efficient when my opportunities are limited. I can get some great reading in, listen to a new album, write a college paper, and write this blog entry in one ride. What else could I ask for?

Ruining “The Thundercats”

Some things are much better left alone.

WB animation is remaking the Thundercats as an animated TV series. The animation style is whimsical, Americanized-anime, along the lines of Teen Titans. The setting is modern-day Earth, in a major city (possibly LA) The Thundercats are all teenagers. Their leader is Snarf (!) who is now a mystic with a “third” eye. Each of the Thundercats has a weapon with an “Eye of Thunderra” and transformative powers (not just Lion-O) When they aren’t fighting evil, the Thundercats play together as a rock band. That’s not a typo, or a joke. They are rockin’ cats in their present form. Mum-Ra now has wings.

Source

When I first found out about “The Thundercats” coming back I was excited, not knowing that they are going to “reinvent” the series. Is this really necessary? Are we completely out of new ideas? And since almost everything has changed about the show, can they even call the show “The Thundercats”?

iPhoto and iLife annoyances

Colin D. Devroe from TheUberGeeks.net has documented some annoyances and issues with iPhoto.

One of the main issues is not being able to use Spotlight to search for photos which you have tagged(keyword) in iPhoto. There is now a solution to that issue which was posted in an apple discussions thread. Another issue is that iPhoto keywords do not function within iLife properly.

Read the full article here to find out more details.

My Notes – Facebook adds a blog feature + Rss feeds Screenshots included

Facebook has rapidly been trying to improve their social network with flickr like photos and mobile uploads. Now facebook has finally caught up to the blogging world and added “Facebook notes.”

Main Page:

As you can see Facebook is still focusing on the tagging and photo aspect of the Web 2.0 world. This commitment being made by facebook to educate the users in the world of technology has us really excited. If users become familiar with blogs, they will obviously start reading more blogs!

Importing:

Writing:

It is going to be very interesting to see how the uneducated college crowd reacts to blogs and RSS feeds.

Saints Row Video Preview

Saints Row For The Xbox 360

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Volition
Genre: Third-Person Action
Release Date: August 29, 2006
ESRB: Mature

The excitement for this game is clear: “Saints Row, the single-player demo set a new record for downloads over Xbox Live Marketplace. The file, which hit Xbox Live on August 1, was jacked 350,000 times in its first week of release–the most of any demo for the Xbox 360.” Source

Quick impressions: Saints Row should stack up comparably to the much loved Grand Theft Auto series. This one of the games that should display the great power of the Xbox 360 and figures to impress. The fact that customization of the main character is involved really puts the game over the top. People love to get involved with any story, and making the character feel and appear any way you want is a major plus. This game will succeed for the simple fact that it can be taken onto Xbox Live.

Check out g4’s sneak peak of Saints Row:

ListedWrong – A Saavy Ebayer’s Dream

Ebay is one of the most powerful websites on the Internet, as well as one of the strongest marketplaces. Years ago, Ebay was at it’s finest since it was “relatively new.” Nowadays everyone and their mother is on Ebay looking for hot deals and cheap prices. Personally I collect Nintendo (NES) cartridges and Ebay is a great place for my niche. What used to be a heaven for cheap prices and mass quantities is now an overflooded joke. Thankfully there are still people in the world who don’t spell check their post titles, and there are still auctions that are go unseen. I used to type in “nintedo,” “ninendo,” and “nitendo” everyday to see if someone posted something valuable that I could sneak away with paying next to nothing.

Listed Wrong takes what I used to do to gain an edge on fellow ebayers and makes it 100x easier. All you have to do is type in what you are looking for in the Listed Wrong search engine, and in return you get every auction in which that word is spelled incorrectly. The amount of misspelled words in the database at Listed Wrong is said to be near 1 million.

Along with giving you the ability to gain an advantage on your competitors, Listed Wrong also gives you a look at what your “other” competitors are searching. On the left hand sidebar there is a “Last 10 Searches,” and “Top 10 Searches,” which gives you an interesting look at the buying marketplace.

This is simply another way to save some money for those who are interested in doing so. One has to realize the power of competition, and in turn, the power of a lack of competition. Listed Wrong, if it continues to expand and grow as it has, will be one of those must have Ebay utilities that everyone has. So jump on this now (or very soon!) and use this to your advantage until everyone is using Listed Wrong.